Mum says son could have died after 5-year-old strangled by Amazon fly curtain

A mother has claimed her five-year-old son was strangled by an Amazon fly curtain forcing the company to remove it from the site.

Justine Church, 42, from Kent originally ordered the curtain to keep the flies out of her back door, but when her son Myles walked through it he became so severely entangled that she claims he now has whiplash.

Ms Church also claims that Myles’ wounds are so bad that they could leave permanent scarring.

The mum of five said her son was rescued by his twin brother, Darwin who she says saved his twin from suffering potentially fatal injuries.

Following the incident, Amazon said it has removed the product from sale whilst it investigates.

Speaking to the MailOnline, Ms Church said she “could have been burying [Myles], if it wasn’t for [Darwin’s] quick thinking”.

Ms Church added that Myles had been traumatised as a result of the incident and claimed there were no warnings on the packaging despite the concerns of other buys.

She said that when she returned home from work she was distraught to find out what had happened. Her husband later said he hadn’t heard anything happen as he had been using the vacuum upstairs.

Ms Church described the injuries that Myles suffered and her experience of buying the product.

She said: “His twin brother Darwin managed to untangle him but now it basically looks like he's got whiplash around his neck, it's probably going to scar. He was quite traumatised at the time and it was really sore because it's like a burn.

“When you're looking online you know what you want, you know the size you want, you put it in your basket and you order it. It arrived and didn't have any warning on the package but since then, I've Googled it and seen that it's happened before.

“It's that time of year where you need to be more conscious of things like paddling pools, blind cords, the windows being open – I've got five children so I'm fully aware of safety issues around children and my house is baby-proofed.”

Ms Church added that customers have also reported being choked by the string door curtain.

In May earlier this year, one customer said the curtain was a “death trap”.

They wrote: “Your product was great until my husband walked outside to then get trapped around the neck by the strands and strangled him. Really not good and will take this further.”

Another customer wrote: “Keeps the flies out. However, had to take it down due to it getting caught around my four-year-old daughter's neck and causing friction burn, bad enough, it scabbed over.

“I've been tangled in these things before and never had anything like that. Wouldn't recommend it if you have children!”

Ms Church said she did not believe the product is fit for purpose and that there should be “a leaflet in the package stating in bold word strangulation risk”.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said: “This product has been removed while we investigate.”